The Old Gospel
Deaf to the lesson everywhere proclaimed1
By earth, and sea, and sky, in accents clear,2
Of work unceasing, till the end be near,3
We dullard men at other good have aimed.4
To be is but to do—no right to rest5
Or bliss, save in the doing what we may,6
And manfully to strive, while it is day.7
Bravest the man who ever works his best !8
Pleasure, forsooth, some coward may defend,9
Or Idleness, the false god he hath made.10
More true the Scriptures. Father Adam, bade11
Before the fall a Paradise to tend,12
Reads us the life of man, until it close―13
To work, and work, and not to seek repose.14